Canadian Technology To Protect The US Space Force Troops

US Vice-President Mike Pence announced the US military’s intentions to establish a so-called “Space Force,” an announcement confirmed by President Donald Trump on Twitter. The topic raised mixed opinions, some supporting the initiative, while others considering it useless. However, the US officials want to create space troops as a response to space hardware threats coming from Russia and China. And, in the midst of this operation, Canadian technology might be used to protect the future US Space Force.

The dangers the US Space Force troops would be exposed to

It is not yet clear if the upcoming space troops would be indeed sent to space, but the fundraising campaign emails showed a logo that reads “Mars awaits,” suggesting that the future forces might implicate in the Mars colonization missions.

But, if they would be sent in space, the future troops would be exposed to enormous amounts of cosmic radiations. Even if we’d be talking about a trip to Mars, that kind of deep space journey would take years, and the participants in such a mission would most likely feel the adverse effects of radiations.

Therefore, the future Space Force would be exposed to higher fields of protons and neutrons, as well as to ionized atoms of helium and iron, coming from the supernovae outside the solar system and solar bursts of our Sun, as well. These high amounts of cosmic radiation might cause cataracts, DNA damage, cancers, and accumulation of toxic molecules inside the cells.

Canadian technology might protect the US Space Force

With all that presented above in mind, it would be mandatory for the future US space troops to monitor the amounts of radiations they are exposed to when on the mission in outer space. That’s where the latest Canadian technology could be added to the equation.

We’re talking about the NEUDOSE which is developed as we speak by a team from the Faculties of Engineering and Science at McMaster University. The instrument is a state-of-the-art radiation detector that would be mounted to a CubeSat.

If everything goes as scheduled, the NEUDOSE would be deployed by the Canadian Space Agency to the ISS in 2021.

Jasmine holds a Master’s in Journalism from Ryerson University in Toronto and writes professionally in a broad variety of genres. She has worked as a senior manager in public relations and communications for major telecommunication companies, and is the former Deputy Director for Media Relations with the Modern Coalition. Jasmine writes primarily in our LGBTTQQIAAP and Science section.